FAREWELL TO THE FROGS is a portrait of the late filmmaker Ulrich Schamoni († 1998) by his daughter, the renowned photographer Ulrike Schamoni, adapted from her father’s film diaries.rnSuffering from terminal leukemia, Ulrich Schamoni filmed his life up until only a few days before his death in March 1998. A total of 170 hours of uncut, unedited film diary were recorded on mini-DV material.rnWorking with the diaries as well as excerpts from his oeuvre and biographical documents, Director Ulrike Schamoni and editor Grete Jentzen created a 92-minute documentary dedicated to the goal of preserving the legacy of this great filmmaker. Schamoni’s farewell is a powerful, touching chronicle that bears witness, despite his illness, to the full extent of his vigor and love of life. In a mercilessly realistic presentation, it portrays the man who confronted the challenges and the tragic effects of his terminal illness with creativity and a very personal brand of laconic humor. It is a film about a strong attitude toward life and thus also an appeal to love it and live it to the fullest – to the very end.rnThe film diary and Ulrich Schamoni’s films are closely interwoven. He shot three films at his house in Berlin-Grunewald, often playing the lead role himself. In a certain sense, the film diary is a kind of real-life sequel to his film CHAPEAU CLAQUE (1974, with Rolf Zacher, Karl Dall et al).rnThus with its combination of personal insights and film clips from Schamoni’s oeuvre, such as ES (1966, with Sabine Sinjen, Bruno Dietrich et al), FAREWELL TO THE FROGS is both a collage and a historical documentary about a leading exponent of the New German Cinema who played an instrumental role in the development of the German film as a writer-director.